466 Tisiphone

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

Max Wolf , Luigi Carnera

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

17 January 1901

Pronunciation

/ t ɪ ˈ s ɪ f ə n iː /

Named after

Tisiphone

Alternative designations

1901 FX

Minor planet category

Cybele

Observation arc

114.91 yr (41971 d)

Aphelion

3.664121719 AU (548.1448071 Gm )

Perihelion

3.04594364 AU (455.666683 Gm)

Semi major axis

3.355032678 AU (501.9057448 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

6.15 yr (2244.6 d )

Mean anomaly

199.011026 °

Mean motion

0° 9 37.38 / day

Inclination

19.1085004°

Longitude of ascending node

290.871348°

Argument of perihelion

249.614694°

Dimensions

121 km , 115.53 ± 2.2 km

via Wikipedia infobox